Tramm Hudson was a Republican candidate for

Florida's 13th congressional district Florida's 13th congressional district is an List of United States congressional districts, electoral district for the United States Congress, U.S. Congress on Florida's Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast, assigned to Pinellas County, F ...

, to succeed former Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate

Katherine Harris Katherine Harris (born April 5, 1957) is an American politician from Florida. A Republican, she served in the Florida Senate from 1994 to 1998, as Secretary of State of Florida from 1999 to 2002, and as a member of the United States House of Re ...

Background

Hudson was born in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

. He attended

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

on a

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

(ROTC) scholarship, graduating in 1975. He served in the 3rd Infantry Division in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

after graduating. He retired from the

Army Reserve Army Reserve refers to a land-based military reserve force, including: *Army Reserve (Ireland) *Army Reserve (United Kingdom) *Australian Army Reserve *Canadian Army Reserve * New Zealand Army Reserve *United States Army Reserve *United States Navy ...

in 1996 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Hudson has had a long career as a banking executive and has served on a number of civic and business organizations in Florida. He has also been very active in Republican politics in the state, serving in the campaigns of

Porter Goss Porter Johnston Goss (; born November 26, 1938) is an American politician who served as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2004 to 2006. He was the last Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 2004 to 2005, then became the fir ...

and

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

, and was a

Bush Pioneer Bush Pioneers are people who gathered $100,000 for George W. Bush's 2000 or 2004 presidential campaign. Two new levels, Bush Rangers and Super Rangers, were bestowed upon supporters who gathered $200,000+ or $300,000+, respectively, for the 2004 c ...

in 2000 and 2004. He is a life member of the

NRA NRA may refer to: Organizations Asia and Oceania * National Railway Administration, the national railway regulator of China * National Recruitment Agency, Central Recruiting Agency of the Indian Government * New Revolutionary Alternative, an anar ...

13th District Republican primary

Hudson ran in the Republican primary for

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

in 2006 but finished third losing to

Vern Buchanan Vernon Gale Buchanan ( ; born May 8, 1951) is an American businessman, politician, and Air Force veteran serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 16th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, he first entere ...

. Other candidates included former State Representatives Nancy C. Detert,

Mark G. Flanagan Mark G. Flanagan (born February 14, 1963, in Newton, Massachusetts) is a Republican politician who formally served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002. He represented the 68th district, encompassing west Manatee C ...

and

Donna Clarke Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People *Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name Places *Donna, Texas, USA *Dønna ...

Controversial racial remarks

Hudson was filmed making potentially racially insensitive comments about African-American troops formerly under his command at a Christian Coalition campaign event: Hudson made a full and frank apology:

Family

Hudson married Sarah Love Thompson in 1984 and has three children.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Vanderbilt University alumni Florida Republicans United States Army officers Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama United States Army reservists {{Florida-politician-stub